Re: Emacs Newbie Info Pages

[Summer Emacs <summeremacs@summerstar.me>]

> On Sep 17, 2024, at 17:44, Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:
> 
>> From: Summer Emacs <summeremacs@summerstar.me>
>> Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2024 16:12:17 +0200
>> Cc: rms@gnu.org,
>> suhailsingh247@gmail.com,
>> corwin@bru.st,
>> emacs-devel@gnu.org
>> 
>> 1) My proposal is for new people to have a landing set of pages to click through, explaining things
>> in a clear and easy way for them to understand without the instant introduction of concepts which
>> are alien to them. I think the help files are a great thing, but they are overwhelming for new
>> people. I know this because I’ve shown it to people in my circles who don’t know much of anything
>> about how to use a computer, but still use applications such as Word or Pages to type up things
>> for work/classes. They couldn’t understand the first thing about the help pages.
>> 
>> I think Richard asked about the difference between what you propose
>> and the existing Emacs tutorial (which can be read by typing "C-h t").
>> The tutorial is not what you call "help files", and is written in a
>> different style and with different goals in mind.
>> 
>> Or are you saying that the tutorial is also overwhelming, in
>> particular due to introducing too many alien concepts?  If so, that
>> might be worth a separate discussion, because the tutorial is not
>> supposed to be hard to read and understand.
>> 
>> I did mention the tutorial but I said I think it’s fantastic. I was speaking about the other help files in general.
>> Such as clicking on the “Emacs guided tour” - it’s very non-newbie friendly. It’s a great resource but I think we
>> need something better for brand new users who don’t have a coding background.
> 
> OK, but then Richard's question still stands, and it would be good to
> hear your view on the difference between what you propose and the
> tutorial.  Because I could think about a few follow-up questions, such
> as:
> 
>  . can we extend the tutorial with the information you would like to
>    have in the document you propose?
>  . maybe make what you propose to be "tutorial, part2"?
>  . or how about a tutorial whose audience is non-programmers?
> 
> etc.

You kinda have to read what I’ve written so far. 😀
The audience is literally for non-programmers. 🙃

Summer Emacs ☀️🐃